For today’s Five Minute Friday, I decided to just time myself doing something I had to do anyway.
I forgot to have the family do a five minute pickup the night before, but we had done one the night before that.
I’m saying it could have been worse . . .
I took photos from all four corners of the room. All four corners, so you can see the disaster that is the open-and-spilling-out-all-over-the-place linen closet if you look closely.
Don’t look closely.
Pretty please?
Anyway, I needed to pick up, and needed to do it right. So in five minutes of picking up individual items and immediately taking them where they should go (even if that meant walking all the way across the house), it went from this:
to this:
And then it took all of three seconds to move that purple bag so the room actually looked like it had been picked up.
Have you done any #5MinuteFriday projects? Take a picture with your phone, set the timer for five minutes, tackle the spot you photographed, and then take another photo when the timer goes off. You don’t have to share it. Just seeing the difference in the photos will encourage you.
The mental game part of this is my favorite. I love proving to myself that it’s worth focusing on a spot for five little ol’ minutes.
P.S. Can you spot my dog in every picture but one?
P.P.S. Can you spot the hairbrush in the before AND after pictures? Because obviously it was invisible to me during those five minutes.
--Nony
KellyJMF says
I’ve considered putting hairbrushes on a chain like the pens at the bank so they don’t wander away from where they belong. It’s one of the things I actually put away consistently but since everyone else likes to wander around brushing their hair and then put down the brush wherever they are when they stop, there’s never a brush when I want one.
Jeanna says
We have at least 4 brushes in our house and only 3 people that use them and we are lucky to be able to find one in the morning before school.
Shallon says
Do you realize how far you have come? I started reading your blog about 5 years ago (from the beginning). Back at the start of your blog the “after” of your 5 minute pick-up would sometimes look a lot less tidy than the “before” you posted today. I noticed the same about your pantry. It was just something that jumped out at me today, and I want to say congratulations. All your hard work is paying off. And bonus, you have helped so many (like myself) be able to say similar. Thank You
Mel says
I was thinking the exact same thing. There is so much encouragement in your journey.
Melinda Mitchell says
Dana, I’m glad you moved that bag! lol since I love purple, that’s all I could see! 😉
Nope, didn’t see the brush till you mentioned it. I have a bad case of Slob Vision too!
But I did de-clutter my spice cabinet yesterday! I feel confident in saying I won’t accidentally poison myself now!
Penelope says
I figured you didn’t want to hide the hair brush from whoever it belongs to! If the arm of the couch is where they’ll look for it, and it’s the only thing there, is that clutter?
Maria says
It’s hard to believe you have a slob-problem from looking at those pictures! Your living room looks so tidy and decluttered, even the before pictures look pretty darn nice! 🙂
Fawn DeMurl Pender says
The first thing my granddaughter said to me this morning was, “I know I took my brush off the counter last night, but I don’t remember where I put it.” My reply: “Try the couch.” The next thing I knew she was brushing her hair. There is ALWAYS a hairbrush on our bathroom counter, even though they have a perfect place in the drawer right below. It is amazing what can be done in 5 minutes of focused putting-away. Thanks for the reminder.
Anita esser says
I need a 10 hour pickup. I try and get discouraged and I quit.
Heather says
This is one of the great things about the 5-minute pickup. If you do one every day or almost every day, they all add up!
See the above comments about Dana’s progress over the first five years of her journey.
You can do this!